Journals
Journal:
MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0143-6570
Year:
2023
Vol.:
44
N°:
2
pp.
767 - 786
This paper evaluates the soccer clubs' compliance with a potential wage-to-revenue requirement by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and studies the effect on sport achievements resulting from sports and managerial skills. The empirical analysis uses data on first division teams of the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1, from seasons 2009/2010 to 2018/2019. We measure the teams' quality through the annual wages and use the wage-to-revenue ratio as a proxy measure for financial responsibility. Our results reveal that a more prudent financial performance, which is generally linked to good management practices, implies better sport performance and higher chances of qualifying for UEFA competitions.
Journal:
EMPIRICAL ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0377-7332
Year:
2022
Vol.:
63
N°:
2
pp.
1059 - 1079
The literature acknowledges "Uncertainty of Outcome" (UO) as a major factor to explain the degree of interest that sporting competitions draw from fans and the general public. Uncertainty about the championship winner is crucial insofar as financial success depends on the capacity to attract potential consumers of spectacle. This paper focusses on one aspect of UO and examines to what extent reduction in the interest of followers is due to the removal of uncertainty about the world drivers' champion in Formula One. To study how certainty on the winner undermines the degree of attention generated by the Formula One world drivers' championship, we rely on two alternative indexes-similar although not identical-reported by Google Trends. Both of these appraisals are computed from data on users' search intensity in Google, where weekly records are normalised on the relative amount of searches per calendar year. Thus, as dependent variables for the empirical analysis we use two measures: Google Trends News (GTN), to capture the intensity with which individuals search news articles associated; and Google Trends Web (GTW), to get a wider overview based on all kind of Internet contents. The former empirical analysis is carried out on 10 years of available data, while the latter approach estimates the models for a larger period of 14 years. Our empirical strategy includes additionally adopting indicator saturation techniques to address this issue while controlling for outliers.
Journal:
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE ECONOMICS OF BUSINESS
ISSN:
1357-1516
Year:
2022
Vol.:
29
N°:
3
pp.
241 - 269
This paper contributes to understanding the financial situation of European football clubs and the role of their media visibility and historical brand status. By estimating production and revenue equations, the study tests hypotheses concerning the relationships between teams' sporting performance (current and past), historical status, media exposure, annual revenues, and annual wages. The empirical analysis is carried out on an extensive data-set, which comprises records, for seasons 1995/1996 to 2015/2016, of teams competing in the 1st division of the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1. In the study, we use two innovative variables: the Elo Rating, as a 'proxy' to capture clubs' historical sporting status (brand value), and the Media Visibility Index, to measure clubs' abilities to capture the attention of the fans and the media. These two variables have proven to be key assets in the revenue-generating capacity of European football clubs.
Journal:
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
ISSN:
1751-6757
Year:
2021
Vol.:
15
N°:
2/3
pp.
283 - 313
This paper contributes to the understanding of the modern sports industry in an international context. Two alternative approaches are adopted for establishing the hierarchy of team-sport leagues globally and researching to what extent professional European football might have gained dominance relative to the major North American sports leagues. We first study the evolving economic situation of the main European and American sport leagues, in terms of total revenues and broadcasting revenues. Then, we adopt an approach based on ¿Google Trends¿ records to rank team-sport leagues according to the relative interest shown by the fans. We interpret the evolution over time as changes in the degree of support given to the Top-10 professional sports leagues worldwide. Finally, we estimate pooled OLS and GLS random effects models to examine the empirical relationship between leagues¿ revenues and Internet searches to understand the prospects of the leagues concerning their popularity and potential revenues.
Journal:
MANAGERIAL FINANCE
ISSN:
0307-4358
Year:
2021
Vol.:
47
N°:
6
pp.
789 - 811
Purpose The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the players' contribution and economic value in the soccer industry. Media visibility records provide us with comparable metrics to identify talent and make hiring decisions - these records can jointly capture sport (on-field) skills and other attractive (off-field) abilities. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a valuation method that applies media visibility appraisals to estimate "theoretical values" of the transfer fees paid for hiring soccer players. The estimations are performed by analysing the evolution over time of the media exposure of about 5,000 individuals of more than 200 clubs. Findings The study's empirical results reveal that, along with sport performance, the players' media status also affects their economic valuation, which explains why the clubs - in search of greater economic returns - fiercely compete for the most popular players. The paper also identifies the main factors determining the players' economic value. In predicting the players' transfer fees, some variables are statistically significant: individual media visibility, media visibility share of the player within his team, contract duration, status of the hiring team, years of experience, player's age at the end of the contract and the domestic league of the hiring team. Originality/value Professional sports provide reliable measures on individuals' performance that may help in the hiring process of workers. This paper identifies gift
Journal:
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMICS
ISSN:
2254-7088
Year:
2020
Vol.:
9
N°:
2
pp.
119 - 142
Institutional and legal reforms applied in the context of sports competitions often provoke structural changes that can be empirically investigated. Using a data set of 560 observations (20 teams per season, from 2009/10 to 2015/16, of teams playing in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1), this paper examines how the UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations may have altered the football clubs¿ decisions concerning their sport and financial priorities. Moreover, based on a simple theoretical description, the paper shows that the increasing financial stability promoted by the FFP rules might actually imply ¿ as an undesired side effect ¿ a declined competitive balance affecting the European football leagues. Finally, the paper discusses some policy issues and recommendations.
Journal:
SOCIAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY
ISSN:
0038-4941
Year:
2020
Vol.:
101
N°:
5
pp.
2137 - 2157
Objective
The ranking of countries in the Olympic Games generates a great deal of interest among analysts, academics, and fans. This article proposes an innovative approach to provide Olympic medals (gold, silver, and bronze) with different weights based on metrics of popularity and media visibility and create an alternative historical ranking.
Methods
The analysis uses ¿Google Trends¿ and ¿MERIT¿ appraisals to capture content and news articles on the Internet that relate to the different types of metals. Figures on weekly relative search intensity in Google and content in the Internet registered monthly are used to track changes over time and thus to control for differences between Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
Results
The results show that gold medals gather far more attention than silver and bronze medals. By applying the estimated multiplying factors, we create an alternative historical ranking of countries that shows some relevant changes.
Conclusion
The use of weights based on popularity and visibility has managerial implications and opens new avenues for future research.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF SPORTS ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT
ISSN:
2340-7425
Year:
2020
Vol.:
9
N°:
3
pp.
185 - 201
This paper examines how players compete in the global media showcase as well as in the sporting field. We pay special attention to the role of players¿ rivalries regarding the effect they have to raise the interest on particular sport disciplines worldwide. We actually compare the individuals¿ media status, as a way to measure of the degree of attention they draw from supporters and the general public around the world. To selected group of star players, we first identify Top-10 athletes who enjoy greater levels of visibility in the media. The appraisals are based on ¿Google Trends¿, by computing the number of searches made by Google users associated to each athlete. Ronaldo emerges as the player with greatest number of searches, taking the reference value of 100. Then, adopting a complementary approach, we also examine the Top-10 most popular soccer players worldwide. In this case, our calculations are based on MERIT (methodology for the evaluation and rating of intangible talent) approach, which computes indexes to appraise the media value of talent by collecting the number of news articles generated by each superstar. We actually calculate the individual index of media value as the factor by which the number of news articles generated by a player multiplies the news related to the representative (average) player in our data base.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF REGULATORY ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0922-680X
Year:
2019
Vol.:
55
N°:
1
pp.
33 - 45
A well-known result with important policy implications is that an output increase is a necessary condition for social welfare to increase with third-degree price discrimination. In this paper, we explore the robustness of this result to the introduction of an assumption that is different than the conventional approach, namely preferences not being quasilinear. We show that in the presence of income differences among consumers, the aggregate utility of consumers may increase with price discrimination while total output remains constant. This result questions the general policy recommendation that third-degree price discrimination should be disapproved because it reduces welfare unless output increases. Our result highlights the crucial role of the assumption of quasilinear preferences in standard welfare calculations. In the presence of income differences, consumer surplus may be a biased welfare measure, thus potentially leading to incorrect conclusions when assessing the impact of specific policies.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND PUBLIC POLICY
ISSN:
2045-2101
Year:
2019
Vol.:
8
N°:
1
pp.
62 - 83
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to accomplish several goals. First, it studies the relevance of the sports sector as part of the entertainment industry. Second, it identifies promising markets within the sports industry, paying special attention to the relative importance of soccer in the context of team-sport leagues. Finally, the paper helps entrepreneurs to recognized market opportunities in the sports industry by identifying the soccer clubs that were found to be low-risk global brands. Design/methodology/approach To evaluate the relevance of the entertainment and sports industries, both in the USA and EU-28, the authors rely on their respective contribution to the domestic product and to employment. Two procedures are proposed for establishing the status of global sport leagues: one is based on the annual revenues and the other on the degree of interest that the public shows for each professional sport league. (The latter is performed by comparing the intensity with which internet users search for contents related to each of the Top-10 sports leagues worldwide.) Finally, by estimating the fixed effects of a model in which sport performance is filtered out, we calculate the expected low-risk revenues that clubs generate due to their heterogeneous brand value. Findings This paper reaches some few relevant results. First, we find that the greater employment opportunities in the European sport industry are concentrated in the UK, Spain, France and Germany, which (...)
Journal:
PAPELES DE ECONOMÍA ESPAÑOLA
ISSN:
0210-9107
Year:
2019
N°:
159
pp.
165 - 179
In this paper we empirically analyse the factors explaining the degree of media visibility in four major European football leagues, by means of an econometric model in which the dependent variable (media visibility of clubs) is estimated on the basis of the relative and aggregate wages of the competition. Controlling for other factors, the analysis enables us to study the way in which a club could improve its media exposure through greater investment in talent. By applying the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, we furthermore examine the extent to which differences between football clubs regarding interest in the media is due to varying resources allocations, or else to an increased media attention (estimated `betas¿) as a reaction to changes in such allocations. Our findings suggest that a club¿s media visibility is greatly determined by its environment, that is, by the domestic competition in which it participates. Finally, policy implications that may be drawn from these findings are discussed.
Journal:
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORTS MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING
ISSN:
1740-2808
Year:
2018
Vol.:
18
N°:
3
pp.
241 - 266
This paper evaluates intangible talent in two global industries of sports: European professional football and Formula One. We apply the MERIT approach (methodology for the evaluation and rating of intangible talent) to evaluate - through media value ratings - sport talent and economic contribution of Formula One drivers and football players. Individual media value appraisals jointly capture the infield and outfield skills of individuals. By aggregating individual ratings, we are able to rank in terms of media value football clubs and racing teams; and to establish a hierarchy among sporting competitions. The empirical analysis is made on large databases from worldwide media sources and internet sites. The paper gives insights on managerial issues, as it permits predicting the future career development and economic perspectives of sportsmen. It also applies regression techniques to examine behavioural interindustries differences concerning the relationship between sport performance, media visibility and economic revenues.
Journal:
APPLIED ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0003-6846
Year:
2017
Vol.:
49
N°:
17
pp.
1679 - 1688
This article studies the determinants of box-office revenues in the motion picture industry. We first adopt an approach that takes into account quality signals (e.g. talent concentration, movie budget and Oscar awards, among others) to analyse the empirical relationship between category-specific parenthood ratings (R-ratings) and box-office revenues. Then, by matching movie contents with economic performance records, our original approach reveals that offensive contents like profanity or nudity may be a hindrance to achieve economic returns, while violent contents seems to enhance box-office revenues. Further research is needed to clarify the interaction in this regard between production budget and movie contents.
Journal:
ECONOMICS OF GOVERNANCE
ISSN:
1435-6104
Year:
2017
Vol.:
18
N°:
3
pp.
275 - 313
Economic theory has proved that income redistribution in imperfectly competitive markets can increase social welfare and lead to Pareto-improving situations. This paper shows that, under certain assumptions, self-financing tax subsidy schemes can have Pareto-improving effects also in a competitive framework. This result is achieved by exploiting external economies of scale, resulting in a decrease in price along with an increase in output. The case of the vaccines industry and World Health Organization initiatives are examined to illustrate the theoretical analysis.
Journal:
REVISTA DE PSICOLOGÍA DEL DEPORTE
ISSN:
1132-239X
Year:
2016
Vol.:
25
N°:
Supl. 1
pp.
37 - 42
This paper applies media value appraisals to measure the degree of identification that players and teams inspire in football supporters. Using a large data set of media value scores in season 2014/15, we rank the most popular football players and clubs worldwide; as well as the teams' managers with the greatest media value exposure. Then, building upon individual ratings, we determine the hierarchy of the "Big Five" European domestic leagues, according to their comparative media value status.
Journal:
ECONOMÍA
ISSN:
0254-4415
Year:
2013
Vol.:
36
N°:
72
pp.
117 - 142
The Temporary Work Agencies (TWA) industry experienced continuous growth throughout the 90s, and now represents around 15% of temporary hiring in Spain. More interestingly, a remarkable regional disparity in this sector exists across Spanish provinces. By developing a simple theoretical model and using panel data methodology, this article examines the Spanish case and suggests that the costs of recruiting, training and screening could explain a large part of the regional disparity. This result is supported by the empirical fact that the TWA firms have greater success in markets with low unemployment rates, where the average duration of unemployment is longer, and in provinces with higher concentrations of urban population, respectively.
Journal:
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMICS
ISSN:
2254-7088
Year:
2012
Vol.:
1
N°:
2
pp.
163 - 179
Some industries exhibit external economies of scale. In these cases, government intervention may generate increases of welfare through tax-subsidy programmes and advanced purchasing commitments. The issue is initially examined for the case of competitive markets in a long-run equilibrium. Then, taking the vaccines industry as an illustrative example, the paper proposes a suitable framework that is tailored to account for the most relevant characteristics of the real situation. The paper concludes advocating for intervention in competitive markets whenever economies of scale exist and implementing the policy is inexpensive. © 2012, Europa Grande. All rights reserved.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0931-8658
Year:
2011
Vol.:
103
N°:
3
pp.
271 - 287
This paper studies the excessive entry bias in a market with many firms. We show that the integer constraint may be relevant regardless of the number of firms. A more sensible interpretation of one of the assumptions proposed by Mankiw and Whinston (RAND J Econ 17(1):48-58, 1986) plays a major role in the importance of the integer constraint. Consequently, we reach different policy conclusions.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS
ISSN:
0895-562X
Year:
2011
Vol.:
35
N°:
1
pp.
5 - 13
This paper analyses efficiency drivers of a representative sample of Spanish football clubs by means of the two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) procedure proposed by Simar and Wilson (J Econ, 136:31-64, 2007). In the first stage, the technical efficiency of football clubs is estimated using a bootstrapped DEA model in order to establish which of them are the most efficient; the ranking is based on total productivity in the period 1996-2004. In the second stage, the Simar and Wilson (J Econ, 136:31-64, 2007) procedure is used to bootstrap the DEA scores with a truncated bootstrapped regression. Policy implications of the main findings are also considered.
Book chapters
Book title:
Sports (and) Economics
Place:
Madrid
Publisher:
Funcas
Year:
2019
pp.
271 - 294
In this paper we analyse empirically the factors explaining the degree of media visibility in four major European football leagues, by means of an econometric model in which clubs¿ visibility in the media is estimated as a function of clubs¿ and leagues¿ aggregate wages. Controlling for a number of factors, the analysis enables us to study the way in which a club could improve its media exposure through greater investment in talent. By applying the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, we furthermore examine the extent to which differences across football clubs regarding interest in the media is a consequence of changes in resources allocations, or else a reaction to changes in such allocations. Our results suggest that a club¿s media visibility is greatly determined by its environment, that is, by the domestic competition in which it participates. Finally, we discuss policy implications that may be drawn from these findings.
Book title:
¿Cómo la innovación mejora la calidad de la enseñanza del Derecho? Propuestas en un mundo global
Publisher:
Thomson-Aranzadi
Year:
2017
pp.
109 - 124
Conocer los fundamentos de las ciencias económicas y empresariales resulta vital para desempeñarse en ámbitos profesionales muy diversos. Este capítulo ofrece una reflexión pedagógica, a partir de la experiencia de años dando clase de economía a estudiantes de derecho, sobre las peculiaridades de esta tarea docente.
No es infrecuente que alumnos de derecho muestren poca predisposición para estudiar materias de economía, empresa, contabilidad, finanzas, etc., ya que juzgan desacertadamente que no son parte esencial de su formación. En esos casos, resulta crucial persuadir a los alumnos sobre la utilidad que esos temas tienen de cara a un aprendizaje integral y a su futura proyección profesional.
Estas páginas responden a dos objetivos principales. Por una parte, se ofrecen algunas sugerencias sobre el modo de suscitar el interés de los estudiantes de derecho por los temas de economía y empresa. Una estrategia que parece haber dado buen resultado consiste en abordar los principales hechos y cuestiones que preocupan en la actualidad a los responsables de la política económica, enfatizando la relación de la política económica con el marco legal e institucional. Se facilita así la comprensión del modo en que operan los mercados y las economías.
Por otra parte, nuestras reflexiones pondrán de manifiesto la conveniencia de adoptar sistemas de evaluación adecuados, que sean acordes con un régimen de incentivos favorable al esfuerzo. Con este fin, se plantea un sistema de (...)
Book title:
The Economics of competitive sports
Place:
Cheltenham
Publisher:
Edward Elgar
Year:
2015
pp.
110- 151
Given the economic and commercial implications of sports, the media value of players is considered a major asset in the area of professional sports businesses. This chapter establishes procedures to measure the intangible talent of players within the tennis industry. It also examines the extent to which policies on prize money could be more efficiently designed to account for the economic contribution of the different agents involved in the provision of entertainment. To evaluate the media value of professional tennis players, we follow the ESI methodology, whose basic guidelines combine information on media value and popularity. The chapter has been carried out using weekly data on news and media presence of the top 1400 professional tennis players (700 women of the WTA and 700 men of the ATP), in the years 2007 and 2008.
